Towards Tomorrow
by Ekko Rayne
Summary: Naraku has been defeated and Kagome wants to get back to Inuyasha but can't until one day she can...will she finally hear the words she's always wanted to hear him say?


_**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters or story line. **_

A/N: This story takes place after the defeat of Naraku.

OoOoOoO

**Towards Tomorrow**

It's been almost three long years since the well stopped letting her pass through, closing her off from her friends and from Inuyasha and Kagome still visited the shrine where her life in the Feudal Era began. She kept hoping that one day the well would open again and she'd once again travel back 500 years to where Inuyasha would be waiting for her beneath the Goshinboku. Every day that passed leaving the well unopened left Kagome feeling even more depressed. She needed to see everyone again…she needed to see him again.

Kagome, standing once again in front of the well, sighed. Looking down into its dark depths she knew it was pointless coming day after day, but with each new day hope bloomed again with dreams of the well finally opening only to crush her heart when it would not. She turned away, tears forming in her eyes and she made her way back the main house.

Inside, holed away in her room, she pulled out a box from beneath her bed. Opening it she found what remained of the pictures taken in the photo booth with Inuyasha. Looking upon them she wondered if she'd ever see him again. She didn't think she could continue on in her time, live her life so normally, without Inuyasha in it. She smiled at that. Her life with Inuyasha had been anything but normal.

She let herself remember her 15th birthday when she passed through the Bone Eater's well. She remember the horrid demon centipede that pulled her through, seeking the Shikon Jewel that she had not known resided in her body. After believing the centipede gone after she had emitted the strange glow from her body she had climbed out from the well in a completely different time.

She remembered spotting the Goshinboku from the well and thinking if she could just get to the sacred tree she'd be back at the Higurashi Shrine. Upon reaching the tree she caught her first glimpse of the half demon boy bound to it by an arrow. She remembered how she had climbed the roots entwining his body to the tree and had rubbed the strange ears atop his head and then out of nowhere came shouts of men and she was soon bound and captured and taken to a village.

She had met Kaede then and was told of the sacred tree and the priestess who had bound him there. Then the demon centipede had attacked again. Kagome knowing she was after her took off into the forest where the demon boy was only this time he was awake. She released him from the tree and then as they say the rest was history…

…and for her now it really was just that…history, the past, a closed chapter in her life that she wished could be reopened and lived again. Wiping the tears from her eyes she put away the photo strip and closed the box putting back beneath her bed.

She missed Inuyasha. She felt like in the end she had only just found him just to lose him again. She had been so sure that after he had brought her back from the Shikon Jewel's darkness that their relationship would have finally been able to begin as she had hoped it would. She remembered the kiss she had shared with Inuyasha and she had remembered how it had held every ounce of love she had held for him. She just wished she could have heard him say that he loved her too.

She got up from the floor and lay down on her bed. Closing her eyes she let her dreams take her to where the well wouldn't.

OoOoOoO

Inuyasha sat on a branch of the Goshinboku his eyes trained on the Bone Eater's well. He willed Kagome to pass through as he did every day as always she never appeared. He remembered the days the well had stopped working. It was three days after the defeated of Naraku. He had brought Kagome back from the darkness the Shikon Jewel had created. He had appeared with her in her time to find her mother, brother and grandfather in the shrine crying. Kagome rushed from his arms to them and the well had sucked him back down to his own time and from then on had ceased to work.

Every day for nearly 3 years he had sat there on that same branch of the Goshinboku watching the well and every day his heart broke even more when she did not return. He had tried jumping in the well screaming her name time and again, but nothing brought her back to him. Cursing the fates that had done this to him he had given up and retreated to his now favorite perch in the tree.

This tree too held memories of Kagome. The Goshinboku…Kikyo had once bound him to this very tree and 50 years later Kagome was pulled through the well by Mistress Centipede and released him. She had seemed so similar to Kikyo then and yet so different. There was a different fire to Kagome's spirit that Kikyo had never possessed even after death and resurrection. It was that very same fire that had slowly thawed the iciness that encased his heart and brought down his barriers.

Inuyasha missed her. He missed her scent and the feel of her pressed against his back as he carried her. He missed her spirit and her fire. He missed the way she got mad at him for his curtness and even though he hated the taste of dirt he missed that "Sit" command of hers. He would gladly take a thousand "sits" to be able to hold Kagome in his arms once again.

Kagome was the balm his soul needed. She had loved him even though he was a half demon, something no one else had done since his mother had been alive. Even Kikyo had wanted him to change, but not Kagome. To her he being a half demon was fine. It was who he was and she said he should never change because she loved him for who he was.

Inuyasha looked up at the sky. Dawn's brilliant red and pink hues were beginning to show through the leaves of the forest canopy. He should be getting back to the village before the others noticed his absence. There was no point letting them know how much he was hurting from Kagome's absence. Sango and Miroku had enough to handle with the twins and the new baby bow. Even Shippo was now busy with his fox exams.

Inuyasha turned towards the direction of the village where he could hear the sound of it awakening for the day. He'd come back to the Goshinboku and the well later when no one would miss him. He turned his back to the well and walked away.

OoOoOoO

Kagome stirred feeling her body heavy from sleep. Today was her high school graduation and her 18th birthday. Getting up she dressed in her school uniform for the last time and met her family downstairs for breakfast.

"Happy Birthday dear," her mother said as she entered the kitchen, "and congratulations!"

"Thanks Mom."

After a quick breakfast Kagome left the house. Walking past the shrine she forced herself to keep moving so she wouldn't be late. She decided the well could wait a few hours.

Graduation moved quickly and for the first time in her life she was finally glad to be done with school. No more exams or fake illnesses. It was all finally over. She had done it even after all the school she had missed before starting high school. She allowed herself a smile at the pride she felt in herself.

"Kagome? Are you coming dear?"

"Yeah Mom I'm coming." Kagome followed her mom back to the Higurashi Shrine. Passing the well house she stopped.

Her mom stopped too and turned to her and smiled. "I'll wait here for you Kagome."

Kagome entered the shrine. Walking straight to the well she peered down. Nothing but the dirt at the bottom as always. She felt the tears well up in her eyes again; she closed them before the tears could fall. _All I want is to be with you Inuyasha…_

She felt her hair being ruffled by wind. She opened her eyes and peering down into the well she saw the blue sky of the Feudal Era. She heard her mom step up to the doorway, turning to her she said, "Mom, I'm…"

Her mom stopped her. "Kagome go its fine. You belong there with him. Only there will you be truly happy again."

Kagome hugged her and jumped through the well for the last time.

OoOoOoO

"Doggie! Doggie!" The twins shrieked as the pulled at Inuyasha's ears.

Shippo grinned. "Looks like you've become a toy."

"Can't you two do something about your kids?"

"Not the ears." Miruko cautioned the girls as he continued to help Sango hang the wash.

"Sorry Inuyasha." Sango smiled up at him over her wash tub while she gently shifted the sleeping infant boy on her back.

The wind stirred then and Inuyasha's nose twitched. _That scent…_"Go slay the fox." He deposited the twins on Shippo.

He took off towards the Bone Eater's well. Not daring to glance inside he stuck his hand down and when a hand grasped his he pulled. Kagome came up out of the well. "I'm sorry. Have you been waiting?"

Inuyasha gathered her in his arms. "You idiot! What have you been doing all this time?"

"Kagome!"

They both turned at the sound of Sango with baby attached, Miroku trailed by their girls, and Shippo. "Sango! Miroku! Shippo! I'm back."

OoOoOoO

Inuyasha sat with Kagome's back pressed against his chest and his arms around her. The scent of her hair teased his nose with each breeze. Her sigh of happiness a purr against his heart. He hugged her closed.

Kagome felt content finally. She was where she belonged. She was with Inuyasha. Turning in his arms she peered up at him. "Inuyasha?"

"What is it Kagome?"

"I never thought that I would make it back here. I went to the well everyday for three years and it would never allow me to pass back through until today. I think when I finally acknowledged that I wanted to be here with you and I was willing to give up everything in my world that it finally let me through. I kept thinking that never seeing you again was going to tear me apart. Nothing in my world mattered to me anymore if I couldn't be with you. When the well opened my mom was there. I hesitated for only a moment but she understood that I belonged here. I'm glad I was able to make it back here to you. I love you Inuyasha. I always have. I believe I was born to pass through that well and meet you. I belong here with you."

Inuyasha was quiet a minute, shocked at what she had given up to get back here to him. "Kagome I sat in the Goshinboku day after day watching the well, missing you and wishing you'd come back through. I told myself I'd wait however long I had to before I could see you again. I wanted you back in my arms where you belonged. I couldn't stand living without you. When the well closed I felt as if you took my heart with you. When I caught your scent this afternoon I was afraid to hope, that it was a trick of the wind. When you grabbed my hand and I felt how real you were I was happy again."

Inuyasha feel silent again. He looked down into her eyes, ember meeting brown. His leaned down and his lips touched hers. "I love you Kagome."

Kagome felt her heart soar. Finally she heard the words she had longed to hear since she had met this man. He was hers finally. She smiled up at him just as dawn began to creep over the horizon. Together she and Inuyasha could look towards tomorrow.

A/N: Well here you have it. My first fanfic. Please review. I'll get more stories up soon. Thanks for reading. Flames welcome. Nothing like good old criticism to inspire better writing. – Ekko Rayne


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